US intelligence official Ritter: Zelenskiy failed to draw NATO into conflict by lying about missiles

MOSCOW, November 18 – RIA Novosti. Retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter said Zelensky hoped to draw NATO into the conflict to set up a drone zone over Ukraine, but Kiev was unable to convince the West that it was “not involved” in the missile stolen in Poland. inside interview Judging Freedom YouTube channel.

“This missile, as we now know, is the S-300, it even has a serial number, so everything points to Ukraine. NATO admits that it follows the trajectory of this missile and knows where it was launched from. Full information. We know it was launched. That’s why Zelensky stopped denying it, we already know the truth,” he said.

The interview draws attention to the growing concern in the Ukrainian military about Russian attacks on the country’s infrastructure, which could lead to a complete blackout of Ukraine. Ritter adds that this may have been the reason for the Ukrainian provocation, as he understood that Kiev would not be able to stop the attacks without NATO intervention.

“They need NATO to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine. That would be their salvation,” explains Ritter.

The author also emphasizes that Russian missiles fly from East to West, so missiles that hit Ukrainian air defense systems should have a trajectory from West to East. Ritter is sure that the only explanation for what happened was that “Ukraine intends to send a missile to Poland”.

On the evening of November 15, rockets fell on Polish territory near the Ukrainian border, killing two. Initially, Warsaw stated that the missiles were Russian-made and that the country had convened a NATO Council. But on Wednesday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said the missiles most likely belonged to Ukraine.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday, there were no attacks on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border that day, and the published photos of some of the wreckage have nothing to do with Russian weapons. The ministry noted that all statements by the Polish media regarding the alleged downing of Russian missiles were a deliberate provocation aimed at escalation. On Wednesday, Russia’s defense ministry noted that photos from the crime scene published in Poland clearly show that parts of a missile from the Ukrainian S-300 air defense system fell there.